History TragicKeepsake / LiveActionFilms

* Averted in the Award-winning Taiwanese film, ''The Dull-Ice Flower''. After the talented young protagonist Ming wins an International Art Award but succumbs to pneumonia at the end of the film, his father burns Ming's Award-winning artwork, together with the certificate commemorating his award, right at his grave.

* Captain Vidal's pocketwatch in ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' is a variation of this: the watch belonged to his father who, when he knew was about to die, broke it so it would stop at the exact time of his death, so his son "would know how a brave man dies". However, Vidal had it repaired seemingly out of spite and keeps it with him at all times. When he is later cornered by rebels, he prepares to break the watch so it can be given to his newborn son only to be told that, "[[KickTheSonOfABitch He won't even know your name]]" and unceremoniously shot.

*** Peter Quill's Sony Walkman and the mix tape inside it, both of which are mementos from his dead mother. He also received a present from her before she passed away, but doesn't open it until the end of the film. [[spoiler:It's another mix tape, "Awesome mix part 2".]]

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' ends with [[spoiler:Yondu]] leaving ''two'' such things behind. [[spoiler:One is a Zune packed with hundreds of similar '80s tunes to Peter Quill's Awesome Mix tapes; the other is his signature TrickArrow for Kraglin, [[EpicFail who needs a little more time to master it.]] [[AmusingInjuries Just ask Drax.]]]]

* There are two in ''Film/MrHolmes''. One is the grey glove, which belonged to the woman from Holmes's last case. [[spoiler:She committed suicide because while he deduced what she was doing and why, he couldn't make that final leap of emotion to save her.]] Oddly, it was actually Watson who saved and hid it, possibly to keep Holmes from dwelling on it. The second is the writing desk, having belonged to Watson, who died just a few years after the last case [[spoiler: and his estrangement from Holmes]].

** In ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart2'', it is heavily implied that [[spoiler:Katniss took Buttercup as her pet (despite them disliking each other) after Prim dies]].

* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': When Finn and Poe Dameron crash their TIE fighter on Jakku, the only thing Finn can recover from the crash site is Poe's jacket. Finn wears the jacket for the rest of the film. [[spoiler: Subverted when he finds out that Poe had actually survived the crash. He tries to give it back, but Poe lets him keep it: it looks good on him.]]

** In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Diana's tiara came from her deceased mentor and aunt Antiope. Later, Diana keeps [[spoiler:Steve Trevor's watch, which he handed to her before his HeroicSacrifice.]]

* Creator/ChristopherWalken keeps his buddy's watch ''[[AssShove up his ass]]'' in a POW camp in Vietnam for two years so he could give it to (the child) Butch in ''Film/PulpFiction''. When the watch is left behind in his apartment, the now adult Butch has to go back and get it, despite the risk.

* ''Film/TheBellsOfDeath'': The title refers to a set of silver bells belonging to protagonist Wei-fu's mother, who died with the rest of his family in a bandit raid five years ago, prompting Wei-fu to go though martial arts training to avenge his family. The sound of the silver bells later becomes a plot point, where villains who hear the sound of ringing bells will be destined to die by Wei-fu's sword.
* Susan "Curly Sue" from ''Film/CurlySue'' always wears a tin ring that belonged to her late mother until it gets stolen and pawned by one of their roommates at a shelter. Fortunately, Bill manages to get it back and Curly Sue wears it on her first day of school. Among the many trinkets that Curly Sue has in her traveling bag there is a tin box with a vintage paper doll Valentine's Day card, dried flowers and a tattered picture of a woman presumed to be Curly Sue's mother inside.

* Averted in the Award-winning Taiwanese film, ''The Dull-Ice Flower''. After Ming, the talented young protagonist, won an International Art Award but succumbs to pneumonia at the end of the film, his father burns Ming's Award-winning artwork, together with the certificate commemorating his award, right at his grave.
* During TheReveal in ''Film/UrbanLegend'', we find out that [[spoiler:Brenda’s necklace is this. It was given to her by her fiancé David (because he couldn’t afford an engagement ring at the time) the very same night that he was killed in the car accident Natalie and Michelle caused]].

* Colonel Mortimer from ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' has a pocketwatch given to him by his sister. There's another pocketwatch that once belonged to the sister in question, but was taken by Indio [[spoiler:following her suicide as he was raping her.]]

* Maverick keeps Goose's dogtags in ''Film/TopGun''

* ''Film/{{Paddington|2014}}'''s hat. It used to belong his Uncle Pastuzo.

* There are two in ''Film/MrHolmes''. One is the grey glove, which belonged to the woman from Holmes' last case. [[spoiler:She committed suicide because while he deduced what she was doing and why, he couldn't make that final leap of emotion to save her.]] Oddly, it was actually Watson who saved and hid it, possibly to keep Holmes from dwelling on it. The second is the writing desk, having belonged to Watson, who died just a few years after the last case [[spoiler:and his estrangement from Holmes]].

* In ''Film/JohnWick'', there are a total of three: the bracelet John's late wife wore, the last video recording he had of her, and not far into the film, Daisy's collar. In [[Film/JohnWickChapter2 the sequel]], the [[spoiler: destruction of the phone holding the recording]] is a plot point.
* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': When Finn and Poe Dameron crash their TIE fighter on Jakku, the only thing Finn can recover from the crash site is Poe's jacket. Finn wears the jacket for the rest of the film. [[spoiler:Subverted when he finds out that Poe had actually survived the crash. He tries to give it back, but Poe lets him keep it: it looks good on him.]]

** In ''Film/TheFlash2023'' Barry Allen [[OtherMeAnnoysMe blows up at his younger alternate-timeline self]] for attaching his plush monkey toy to a dartboard as a target. To Prime Barry it's a reminder of his deceased mother; to Alternate Barry whose parents are still alive it's just a toy he's long since outgrown.

** Deadpool keeps the skee-ball token his girlfriend Vanessa gave him on the night of her murder.
** Cable keeps his daughter's burned teddy bear before traveling back in time. [[spoiler:The teddy bear eventually becomes pristine, a sign he succeeded in preventing his family's deaths.]]
* ''Film/DTox'': Malloy's fiancée Marie is murdered by the SerialKiller known as the Cop Killer. He then wears her engagement ring on a chain round his neck. After he has killed the Cop Killer, Malloy leaves the ring hanging on the branch of a tree and walks away.
* Jennifer in ''Film/LoveStory'', an atheist, explains to Oliver that the gold cross she wears (on a welded chain so it can't be removed) had belonged to her devout Catholic mother.

* In, ''Film/IRobot'', Detective Spooner wears a girl's necklace with the name Sarah on it. In an unusual variation on the trope, he never even met the girl. She was in the car next to him when both vehicles went into the river and started filling up with water. He begged the robot who saved him to save her instead, since she was just an [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent child]], but instead he left her to die because a healthy grown man was the "logical choice". So he wears her necklace as a reminder not to trust robots, seeing them as being too callous and animatronic to see the value of human life.

** The Hello Kitty keyring that Malorie gives Girl's biological mother Olympia as a gift, which is passed down to Olympia's daughter when [[spoiler:Olympia dies and Girl is born. It apparently serves as a SecurityBlanket for Girl.]]

* ''{{Film/Stargirl}}'': Leo gets his dad's porcupine tie to wear for his funeral, and then wears it for years. When some bullies beat him up and destroy it, he gets a new one anonymously. Years later he learns this was from Stargirl, and she also sends him more over the years.
* ''Film/AScoreToSettle'': Joey's favourite baseball card that Frankie carries with him to remind him of how he lost Joey's childhood by being in prison. [[spoiler:Becomes especially tragic when it turns out that Joey is dead, and Frank has been conversing with a hallucination of him this entire time.]]

** Annabelle carried Buddhist prayer beads her girlfriend had, who she's been forcibly separated from.

* ''Film/SanAndreas'': Blake explains to Ben and Ollie - two boys she meets in San Francisco - that the reason she wears two of the same necklace because one of them was the last gift she gave to her sister before she drowned in a white-water rafting accident.

* ''Film/{{Paddington}}'''s hat. It used to belong his Uncle Pastuzo.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'':
** Peter Quill's Sony Walkman and the mix tape inside it, both of which are mementos from his dead mother. He also received a present from her before she passed away, but doesn't open it until the end of the film. [[spoiler:It's another mix tape, "Awesome mix part 2".]]
** Rocket Raccoon keeps [[spoiler: one of Groot's twigs]] after the latter is blown up in a HeroicSacrifice. [[spoiler: Said twig regenerates back into a tiny Groot, who will eventually grow back to full size]].
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' ends with [[spoiler:Yondu]] leaving ''two'' such things behind. [[spoiler:One is a Zune packed with hundreds of similar '80s tunes to Peter Quill's Awesome Mix tapes; the other is his signature TrickArrow for Kraglin, [[EpicFail who needs a little more time to master it.]] [[AmusingInjuries Just ask Drax.]]]]

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. Helmut Zemo has a recording from his answering machine of an innocuous message from his wife, made [[ThatWasTheLastEntry just before the death of his family]].

** In ''[[Film/BirdsOfPrey2020 Birds of Prey (and the Fabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn)]]'', Huntress keeps her brother's toy car which she held onto when she witnessed her family's murder. In the climax, she gives it to Cassandra.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'':

* In, ''Film/IRobot'', the lead detective played by Creator/WillSmith wears a girl's necklace with the name Sarah on it. In an unusual variation on the trope, he never even met the girl. She was in the car next to him when both vehicles went into the river and started filling up with water. He begged the robot who saved him to save her instead, since she was just an [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent child]], but instead he left her to die because a healthy grown man was the "logical choice". So he wears her necklace as a reminder not to trust robots, seeing them as being too callous and animatronic to see the value of human life.

* Topper Harley from ''Film/HotShots'' has his father's eyes. Literally. As in, in a little jewelry case.

* When Film/JamesBond went on his RoaringRampageOfRevenge in the movie ''Film/LicenceToKill'', his keepsake was the cigarette lighter he was given as a gift by Felix Leiter, the friend he's seeking to avenge. Becomes a ChekhovsGun when he uses it to set the BigBad on fire.

* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', after [[spoiler: [[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Clark's]] HeroicSacrifice, Comicbook/LoisLane gets the engagement ring he never got the chance to give her. She's wearing the ring during his funeral.]]
* In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Diana's tiara came from her deceased mentor and aunt Antiope. Later, Diana keeps [[spoiler:Steve Trevor's watch, which he handed to her before his HeroicSacrifice.]]

* ''Film/BlackAngelvol1'': When Mayo puts Ikko on the plane to America after her family is massacred, she clips a keychain with a fuzzy mascot on it to her coat as a good luck charm. Ikko is still wearing it when she returns 14 years later to start her RoaringRampageOfRevenge. It is only when Mayo sees it dropped on the ground after she has ambushed her that she realizes who the girl she just handed over to Nogi is.